Sanders rallies 7,500 in National City

National City buzzed over the weekend with political excitement as Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders rallied in a community park.

Thousands of National City residents and visitors lined the streets to see him speak at Kimball Park on Saturday.

Before being let in, a queue of hundreds of people snaked to the park from National City Boulevard, past City Hall along A Avenue, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center on East 12th Street and around to D Avenue to the entrance across from the Morgan Towers apartment building.

The attendees included young and old supporters across all races. Some had dreads, other wore tie-dyed shirts and some were women with small children.

Along the way, vendors traveling with the campaign sold Sanders paraphernalia, including T-shirts, buttons and hats with the sayings ‘Feel the Bern,’ ‘Bernie 2016’ and ‘Cali for Bernie.’

Other people sold ice cream, beverages and snacks from carts.

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Three days before visiting the area, National City Mayor Ron Morrison said Sanders’ campaign staff called City Hall asking to secure a permit for the park. Morrison said they told him the venue fit the type of location they were looking for to have a rally.

The request sent city officials and law enforcement scrambling to prepare for his arrival.

For a major event such as a presidential rally there would typically be about six months of planning, which involves all city departments. They had just 72 hours.

The City Council was able to approve an emergency permit that evening at its regular meeting.

“A public park (permit) requires a lot of planning and involvement from city staff, the fire department and our law enforcement partners,” said National City Police Chief Manuel Rodriguez.

He said his department coordinated with the Secret Service, San Diego Police Department, San Diego Sheriff’s Department and Southwestern College police for safety and security at the event and for the surrounding community.

Chula Vista resident Emilio Reyes, 30, attended Saturday’s rally with fellow members of San Diego Latinos Unidos Con Bernie (United with Bernie).

Reyes said he supports Sanders because he is trustworthy and fighting for equality and free education.

“He’s fighting for everything we believe in for a better future,” he said.

Claudia Ferreira, another volunteer from Unidos Con Bernie, said many of the citizens the organization speaks with are from Chula Vista, National City and San Ysidro.

“A lot of them said they are going to vote for Bernie,” she said. “Some of them even changed their party from Republican to Democrat because they want to vote for Bernie.”

The majority of National City residents are Hispanic with ages 15 to 54 making up roughly 50 percent of the city’s 60,000 population, according to 2010 statistics from the San Diego Association of Governments. The median age is 30.

Morrison said this was the third time in his lifetime that a presidential candidate had rallied in National City.

The others include Robert Kennedy in 1968 at the South Bay Plaza off Highland Avenue and in 1992 when Bill Clinton visited.

Hours before the National City rally, Sanders visited Friendship Park, which lay on the border between San Diego and Tijuana. He also held another rally in Vista at the Rancho Buena Vista High School Stadium on Sunday.

It was a big political day not just for National City but the South Bay, with former President Bill Clinton visiting Chula Vista.

Earlier the same day, Sanders’ opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was being represented at a rally eight miles away at Bonita Vista High School in Chula Vista by her husband Bill Clinton.

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Despite an overflow room at the Clinton rally, a Southwestern College community officer working the Sanders event said he’d been at the Clinton event earlier that day, which paled in comparison as far as attendees.

Some Kimball Park attendees said it took them more than an hour to get into the park, despite having RSVPd as suggested. In addition, several streets were blocked for the event.

To Sanders fans like Escondido resident Jeff Beeler, waiting in line didn’t matter.

“This is a critical election,” Beeler said.

Beeler, 59, said he changed party affiliations from Independent to Democrat to vote for Sanders.

“I’m impressed with Bernie’s record,” he said. “He’s inclusive of all people. I like what he stands for.”